Read Online Breaking Josephine by Marie Stewart - Free Book Online Page A

ridiculous!” I almost said out loud, as I put my plate of uneaten food on
the nearest discard tray and walked outside. “I might not be from money, and I
might not fit in with most of the guests, but I received an invitation too and
had every right to be at the social,” I thought to myself, feeling all at once
indignant and offended. “I have manners and can blend into a crowd of people
just like the snobs who attend one of these things,” I thought. I walked
outside to the Daugherty’s expansive deck, took a deep breath of fresh ocean air,
and tried to calm down.
    “That good, huh?”
said a voice to my right. I looked over and saw Colin, dressed in a tux with
scuffed up, checkerboard Vans on his feet. Although I was surprised he’d
actually talk to me after our strange exchange at the beach party almost two
weeks before, I appreciated the attempt at conversation.
    “Can you tell
these parties aren’t really my thing?” I said with a sheepish smile. I didn’t
love the idea of chatting with Colin again, but he was William’s brother, and I
didn’t want to make anything uncomfortable for Macy.
    “They aren’t
exactly mine, either,” he said as he looked down at his skater shoes. He
smiled, his dark brown eyes coming to life beneath his thick brown lashes. His
friendliness caught me off guard and I smiled at him despite myself. “So, you
never told me how you and Macy met, does your family own a beach house here
too?” he asked.
    My smile quickly
disappeared, as I responded, “No, I’m not one of the in-crowd. We met working
at the Red Barn, and Macy insisted I come to her mom’s social this year,
allegedly for moral support, but,” I said looking around me, “I don’t think she
needs my support at one of these things at all. I’m just an ordinary person who
works at a restaurant and makes enough money to keep the lights on and food in
the fridge.” I shrugged my shoulders and turned back to the ocean.
    “Sorry, I didn’t
mean to offend. I obviously made assumptions I shouldn’t have, although
honestly, dressed like that, you do look the part.” He offered me an apologetic
smile, but then continued, “I take it that means your family isn’t one of the
Cannon Beach royalty?”
    I looked over at
Colin, annoyed at his forwardness and nosy questions. He had been rude to me at
the bonfire, and now he wouldn’t quit asking me about my family when I thought
I’d shut that line of questioning down. But he did apologize, and Macy had
basically vouched for him when she introduced us at the beach party, intimating
we should date. Maybe he was just having a bad day when we first met and I was reading
too much into his questions now. I inhaled and tried to shake off the hostility
I needlessly directed at him, realizing I was also still upset from the stares
I’d gotten inside.
    “No, I’m about as
far from Cannon Beach royalty as you can get,” I answered. “I’m from Portland,
but my mom died when I was twelve and I lived in an orphanage until I turned
eighteen.” I offered him a weak smile and looked back out at the ocean.
    “It must be hard,
not knowing much about your family and where you came from,” Colin said after a
while.
    Although I thought
he’d read a bit too much into my answer, I still responded honestly, “No, not
really, I never really think about it.” My mom never told me much about my
father or her life before she had me, but it never really mattered much to me. She
always said we were the only family each other had, and I thought poking around
in the ghosts and shadows of the past would be pointless and only bring up sad
memories of what I’d had and lost.
    Trying to change
the subject and get the conversation directed onto Colin and off of me, I
asked, “So are you in college?”
    “Just graduated
Stanford, actually. I’m taking the summer off and then I’m off to law school in
the fall,” Colin said, looking at me with a slight frown on his face.
    “Do you